I can't wait to see our D-line this season, especially if we can get Abraham. We have two guys that legitimately may break out at any time

The longer the Abraham stuff drags out, the more worried I get -- just because it seems like we're due for some bad news. (I've loved our offseason thus far, which makes me expect the worst now.) With Freeney being signed away by the Chargers, I hope that the Titans haven't ruled out Idonije as a backup plan, if Abraham doesn't work out.

As much as I like Edwards's potential, I wouldn't want to go into this season with only some combo of Edwards, Pitoitua, Solomon, Dawson, and even Klug as the potential DE backups. We need to have a legit DE backup who can help to limit Morgan and Wimbley's snaps this season to something more realistic than the snap-counts they had last season.

We reportedly brought in Antoine Caldwell and Winston Justice earlier this week. Caldwell is a versatile C/G, Justice is pretty much only a RT. I'm starting to get concerned with where Big Country is in rehab

-He said Karl Klug will have a bigger role this season. So i'd expect to see him more at DE than we have in the past.

-Sounds like we will be running some 3-4 this season., which explains more of why we went out and grabbed Fokou and Pitoitua.

-He brought up Pollard and Wilson a few times. Even adding the Wilson originally played some WLB in Buffalo before switching to S and said how smart Wilson is and that he picked up the system very easily. Should be interesting, when we run 3 safeties likely allowing Griff to play center field

- There's a lot of talk about "changing the culture", not sure if thats something the players are just repeating from the coaches or what.

The main thing I'm excited about is defensive leadership. Morgan is well spoken and an intelligent DE, however he is not a rah rah guys. That's fine. Pollard and Wilson are both veterans with different forms of leadership, but both are great additions on a defense that really needed leadership.

-He said Karl Klug will have a bigger role this season. So i'd expect to see him more at DE than we have in the past.

-Sounds like we will be running some 3-4 this season., which explains more of why we went out and grabbed Fokou and Pitoitua.

-He brought up Pollard and Wilson a few times. Even adding the Wilson originally played some WLB in Buffalo before switching to S and said how smart Wilson is and that he picked up the system very easily. Should be interesting, when we run 3 safeties likely allowing Griff to play center field

- There's a lot of talk about "changing the culture", not sure if thats something the players are just repeating from the coaches or what.

The main thing I'm excited about is defensive leadership. Morgan is well spoken and an intelligent DE, however he is not a rah rah guys. That's fine. Pollard and Wilson are both veterans with different forms of leadership, but both are great additions on a defense that really needed leadership.

I think they could be looking at Klug in a DE/DT swing role, but I'm pretty sure Gray has hyped guys like Egboh in the past who have amounted to nothing so I'm taking this one as a 'believe it when I see it'.

As far as the defense as a whole goes I'm excited and eager to see the changes made. Lots of variables like the potential 34 stuff, increased blitzing, press coverage, Williams' influence, the ruby package, more physicality, change of culture...etc. Who knows if they will amount to anything, but we were pretty crappy on defense last year so some change can't hurt. At least it gives us fans something to talk about.

As far as the defense as a whole goes I'm excited and eager to see the changes made. Lots of variables like the potential 34 stuff, increased blitzing, press coverage, Williams' influence, the ruby package, more physicality, change of culture...etc. Who knows if they will amount to anything, but we were pretty crappy on defense last year so some change can't hurt. At least it gives us fans something to talk about.

I agree, we still have to see if it amounts to anything. But on defense all the pieces seem to be there, John Abraham would be the final piece but isn't absolutely vital to the improvement on defense.

The thing that intrigues me the most is that our division doesn't have amazing offenses, sure the Texans could put up some points and yards, as they finished top 10 in both categories, but those stats are heavily skewed by their defense that kept people off the field and made drives short (texans led the league in TOP).

Houston showed against good defenses they aren't nearly as good on O.

We need our offense to take pressure off the D, and the D to take pressure off the O. If we can do that we can compete for wins in the division, even if we can win 3 or 4 of the games that sets us up for a playoff chance

Ayers is a classic SLB that has limited skills in pass coverage, but makes up for it as a pass rushing LBer and nickel DE and he has a legitimate chance at getting 8-10 sacks.

Brown is a classic WLB with pass coverage ability, and above average pass rush skills for a WLB. Brown has the potential to get 7 sacks and 5ints, both of which are great by linebacker terms.

In the end, I think Brown will be commonly referred to as one of the best WLB in the NFL, while Ayers will be well respected by our fans, I don't know if he will ever be referred to as one of the best SLB

I can see going with only 2 qb's. I don't know what to expect from Walker. Could he fight Mariani for a spot? Or is Mariani's fight more between he and Raynaud? They gave Mooney some carries at the end of last year, he's a tough downhill guy...maybe a better fit than Raynaud if Mariani makes the roster? I'm not sure Ropati and Keyunta offer enough talent to both make the roster. Another optin would be keeping Antonio Johnson (basically in the backup role for SLH) and hoping Klug can fit in at DE as well.

I can see going with only 2 qb's. I don't know what to expect from Walker. Could he fight Mariani for a spot? Or is Mariani's fight more between he and Raynaud? They gave Mooney some carries at the end of last year, he's a tough downhill guy...maybe a better fit than Raynaud if Mariani makes the roster? I'm not sure Ropati and Keyunta offer enough talent to both make the roster. Another optin would be keeping Antonio Johnson (basically in the backup role for SLH) and hoping Klug can fit in at DE as well.

Are you meaning Kevin Walter, Bobo? If so, I don't know what to do with him. We'll likely keep 6 WRs and I think 4 of them are locks. So it's going to come down to Mariani, Walter, Williams, Preston, Borel and the rookies. Mariani has proven to be a valuable special teamer, so I'd say he makes the team. It's a battle between everyone else for the final spot, Walter is a veteran presence, but offers nothing in the form of versatility. Williams has shown some nice work, and Preston impressed some last season. Borel impressed with the Packers, and could shine in preseason.
I think Reynaud is too valuable to let walk as well, if he shows any promise as a RB in preseason he's a lock. Same can be said with Mariani @ WR IMO.

We'll probably go with Parmele if Reynaud doesn't make the roster, unless Mooney wins out the FB spot I don't see him making the team.

I think Ropati makes the roster because of the versatility to play DE and DT. If we really want to play the 3-4 D at times he'll be a big part of that being the only guy on the line that has played in a 3-4 in the NFL at DE. I think he's close to a lock just based on that fact.

I really liked what I saw from Dawson last preseason but if Klug plays well at DE I could see him getting a backup job out there meaning Dawson would lose his spot. If Klug is played more at DE this season, that would free up the spot for Johnson to make the team at DT.

I keep hearing talks about the 3-4 from Gray, so I think it will be a staple of the team and a reason why we went out and grabbed SLH, Ropati and possibly Johnson.

One of the more intriguing things to me would be what we would do with Brown in the 3-4. Do we move him inside and play him next to McCarthy/Fokou? I think he's too small to hold up in the run-game on earlydowns as a 3-4 OLB, but I could see him being an OLB on 3rd downs and rushing the passer from the outside

Opps yeah meant Walters. I like Mariani and Reynaud, do we need both? If this team wants to run the ball more, win TOP, maybe we need power. Of course we got Greene, but Mooney is in that mold as a runner. CJ and Reynaud are speed guys, not grind it out guys. Maybe you go with 2 power guys to back CJ, but I'm not exactly sure what kinda team we are trying to build here...hope the guys in charge do.

Depending on how Klug looks at DE, he could help them similar to Ropati's role (or what we think it is anyway). Ropati won't rush the passer like Klug though, but it's yet to be seen what Klug will do at DE. I actually watched a KC game recently and focused just on Ropati. It was statistically one of his best games, but I didn't come away that impressed. Dawson otoh, was somewhat impressive last year, but you wonder why he hasn't done much in his career.

I see guys who I think could be used to mix in some 34, but I wonder if the 3 man fronts will not feature 4 lb's, just used for the 3 S sets they've talked about. I don't know of Williams/Gray having much 34 history. Do they? I'd think we'd have to run more of a Wade Phillips style 34.